


Footsteps following in the dark

by cheebos



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Ambiguous Route (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), CW: Children in dangerous situations, During Timeskip (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Gen, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-11-02 05:41:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20640320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheebos/pseuds/cheebos
Summary: The darkness that lurks in Fodlan finds itself working into even the smallest of lives, in the smallest of ways.Even mine.Returning to Garreg Mach could never fix that. But I can try.For their sake.





	Footsteps following in the dark

Toss. Turn.

The sleeplessness of night gripped at me harder than it had in months. Garreg Mach had become our home once again, but the once carefree atmosphere had been replaced with an oppressive sense of constant foreboding as war boiled.

That wasn’t what was on my mind.

The nightmares came and went, but were always there, lurking in the back of my mind, threatening to strike at any time just as they did now. Unable to sleep, I crawled from my bed and changed into something more appropriate for wandering in the cold air. The curfew enforced whilst at the officer’s academy had been lifted, instead replaced by nightwatches carefully scanning the environment for any signs of danger. I think that curfew still had an unofficial place in everyone’s minds, though as the monastery was always quiet at this time.

I made my way towards the greenhouse and down to the lake. It was prettier than usual, illuminated by the glistening moonlight. I sat and stared down into the water as my reflection began to distort, when the memories began to stir.

\----------

It wasn’t long until I left the Alliance to search for my brother. Edgar had been missing for over six months and Judith was running out of leads, so I decided to set out on my own to find him. Lord Astor was, of course, against me leaving, but faced with the choice of either staying in the Alliance or trying to find my brother, the one person I could always rely on, who always kept me safe, the answer was obvious.

I had no idea what was waiting for me.

That day, the storms were particularly bad as I passed through Hrym, searching for a sign - any sign - of where my brother had been. I’d been travelling for most the day without taking a break and was starting to get tired, least of all from the rain, and had been looking for somewhere to rest when I came across the ruins of a village.

Bandit outbreaks were commonplace in Hrym; far too common. It was something I was aware of, but seeing it firsthand; the recently tattered roof tiling and scorched walls of family homes...it was more harrowing than I could have imagined. I only intended to stay a short while to build up my strength when I heard something. Rattling from a hut in the corner of the village. It was one of the more intact buildings so I figured that perhaps a group of animals had taken up residence there to scavenge for scraps.

What I didn’t expect to find was a group of children, huddled and hungry, fear plastered on their faces as they tried to keep warm and dry from the storm.

\----------

“Isaac, c’mon hurry up!”

“Lucas, slow down and wait for everyone, ok?”

It had been three months since I’d found them. There were five in total; various ages, but the eldest, Nia, was only nine. The youngest; a nameless infant of about 10 months. And I had become the caretaker to all of them.

I had started to make repairs on one of the houses to make a proper place for them to sleep, but whenever I left for any length of time, such as to check the hunting traps, I had to take all of them with me since it was still too risky to leave them on their own. I had already begun to teach the basics of swordplay to Nia, just in case, but every day I prayed she would never have to use them.

Hrym was a horrible place to live. If you weren’t liable to be attacked by bandits, you were going to be killed by the harsh regulations placed by the Empire. Much of the region was either untamed or under heavy surveillance by the army due to its proximity to the border with the Alliance. Relations were tense, but there wasn’t any war. Yet. 

I didn’t want to keep those kids there any longer than I had to, but I was well out of my depth. Moving them from Hrym was a huge undertaking I wasn’t sure I was prepared for.

So I just stayed.

The village was luckily surrounded by open plains. Not nearly as big as Tailtean or Gronder Field, but filled with enough fertile ground and vegetation to get by for the small group of us. Gale had taken to it better than the rest of the kids. She was quieter than the others, at four, but was always asking about the things I was gathering or cooking. She had even helped me tend to the gardens and proved to be even more skilled than I was. 

Hunting was also a mainstay of our routine. Setting up traps gathered some food, however, Kyle insisted on always hunting a little extra to hone his skills. He was already becoming good with a bow. He was only six, but had picked up the basics pretty well and was always eager to practice. He had promise, but my gut twisted whenever I saw him so proud of himself, knowing what that could become.

I had to avoid that at all costs. I had to. I had to protect them, keep them safe.

I was right to be so paranoid.

\----------

“Isaac...?”

“What is it Gale?”

“Um. Can we give the baby a name?”

“I suppose we should. None of you know if they ever one, did you?”

“Nah. Nia found it in the chapel.”

“Kyle, you shouldn’t call the baby an ‘it’.”

“Well, why not?”

“Because they’re a person. Like us.”

...

“Oh! I know! How about Hope!”

“Hope?”

“Yeah, like our Hope! Cuz, cuz, um...”

“You didn’t think about it, did you?”

“Yeah, think before you speak, Lucas.”

“D-don’t make fun of me, Kyle!”

“Stop it, both of you, you’re being silly.”

“I was agreeing with you, Nia!”

“N-no you weren’t! You were making fun of me, I know it.”

“Hey, no need to argue. I like that name, Lucas. Hope. Has a nice ring to it.”

\----------

It had been three weeks since we left the village. A group of bandits attacked, forcing us out. I dispatched them easily; there was only a small number of them. However, it was the second time they had been involved in an attack. Seen blood. Seen people fighting. Seen bodies. I’d do anything to take that back from them.

Since then, we’d been on the road. The supplies I had weren’t enough to support all of us, but the tent was just about the right size for all six of us to fit. 

Every day was torture as I had to scrounge enough to feed everyone and then either go hungry or eat to keep my strength up and continue supporting the kids whilst they looked on with reserved jealousy. 

I always chose to go hungry.

They were getting restless, too. Arguments broke out on a daily basis and I had to mediate. Being kids, they were usually over pointless things but they proved difficult to handle, especially out here.

Checking my map, I planned to take them towards a city at the edge of Hrym near Aegir territory. As one of the larger cities in Hrym, it was occupied by Imperial forces last I was there, but it was better than continuing to treck out in the wilderness with them, where their frail little lives could be ended at any moment.

I had planned to take them there where it was safe. It was supposed to be safe. By the goddess it should have been safe.

They were all overjoyed as I began to pay for our room: just enough to cover us for two beds. They had to share, but it was better than a tent. In the meantime, I had planned to take up mercenary work whilst searching for a new home for these kids. A proper one. Not with me, but with someone who knew what they were doing.

That was the plan. That should have been the plan.

Two days later, the city burned. We were caught in the middle of a riot and Imperial soldiers were dispatched to deal with it.

They slaughtered anyone they deemed a threat. The riot devolved into little more than a massacre. Overnight, the streets were painted a mix of red and orange.

Inside our room, I hastily gathered our things and watched as their faces contorted in terror and confusion.

“Isaac, what’s happening outside?”

“Where are we going?”

“Is it safe? Will we be hurt?”

Goddess, I nearly choked on the lump in my throat right there. We were so close. We were supposed to be so close.

I took them and fled the city that night, fighting through the angry hordes of Imperial soldiers as they looked on in absolute fear. 

Fear. At me. As I pushed my sword through the heart of a young man snuffing out his light forever.

\----------

“...Isaac…?”

“I didn’t think you were awake, Kyle. It’s late, you should go back to sleep.”

“Is that what it’s like to fight?”

…

“Yes. It is.”

...

“It was scary. I don’t like it.”

“Good. You’re not supposed to.”

\----------

I kept going with them for another month. I was lost. Utterly confused with no idea of where to go, desperately trying to keep it together for their sake even though I could barely think. Sleepless nights became commonplace and all the while we pushed slowly, ever slowly, into winter.

The wolves would be here soon if the weather didn’t kill us first.

However, it wasn’t either of those things that tried first.

Our campsite was quiet. I was half-awake, wracked with the ever-present fear that something might come if I wasn’t. I kept all the children near me at all times and now was no different.

That was when I heard it. A rustle in the bushes. I sat up instantly, reaching for my sword. Leaving the tent, I scanned the clearing for any signs of movement-

-When a sharp pain hit the back of my head and my vision crumbled.

I awoke to find my hands tied and my mouth gagged as chaos erupted around me.

“Kevral! Go after him! Paelith, shut that damned infant up and take the other one, I’ve got the girl covered.”

As my vision focused, I noticed the individuals had pale skin with strange eyes and were dressed in odd black clothing-

Oh goddess, no.

This was worse than even my nightmares. This wasn’t something I had even considered. The visions of that woman, Kronya, of Solon, those experiments, the corpse of Jeralt as he passed, all the memories flooded back and I was taken with an unshakable dread, panic gripping my every thought.

“This was supposed to be an easy mission...now look, our friend’s awake again, Yevon!”

“Damn it, it’s not my fault these kids are so damn crafty, Paelith! Bastards won’t just come quietly…”

The woman I assumed was Paelith knelt down with Gale slung over her shoulder. Hope’s cries filled my ears as I begged my body to just move.

“I am going to remove this gag and you will tell these kids to come quietly.”

Before she could, an arrow hit her in the eye. As she screamed, I kicked her in the ankle, knocking her to the ground and sending Gale tumbling too. Impressively, she managed to keep ahold of Hope, but I didn’t have time to think as Kyle appeared behind me to undo my wrists.  
Tearing the gag from my face, I leapt on top of Paelith, yanking the arrow from her eye as she screeched in pain before I plunged it deep into her chest. Again. And again.

She kicked me off of her, still somehow alive, and drew a sword from her waist. I instinctively reached for my own, but found nothing.

Paelith sped towards me, taking a strike that was easy to dodge in her haggard state. She followed up with a series of slashes, so fast it was impossible to dodge all of them. Some left cuts on my arms and torso, but she ended up embedding her sword into a tree giving me enough time to recover.

“Thales is not fucking compensating us enough for this shit!” Paelith started to move towards me again, but suddenly tripped and fell, letting out a frustrated shout. Gale slid a knife towards me from her position on the ground and I grabbed it before closing the distance between myself and Paelith, plunging in deep between her shoulder-blades before tearing it down to her neck, cutting her open as the life left her.

I looked behind me. Battle wasn’t the right word, but Nia was doing remarkably well at dodging the brute’s grasp. Grabbing Paelith’s sword, I charged in to catch him off-guard, striking at his back as he let out a yelp, turning to face me.

“Paelith…!” It seems he was so caught up with Nia that he hadn’t noticed Paelith fall. I took my chance to slash across his stomach. It was a clean hit, carving several inches into his abdomen.

“Bastard...you should have come quietly!”

“You were the ones who attacked us, in case you forgot!” I dodged the poorly aimed strike with his axe before striking at his clavicle. His free hand decked me in the jaw as he readied his next attack. I lifted my sword to block, but the strike was too strong, knocking me off-balance and sending me tumbling to the dirt.

Recovering from the blow, I noticed a figure crawling in the bushes behind Yevon. Nia. She held a large rope in her hand and I instantly knew what she was going to do.

“Thales said to take as many kids as we could...said nothing about the owners.” A demonic grin plastered Yevon’s face as he edged towards me, bit by bit, raising his axe in the air. As he swung down, I rolled out of the way, scrambling to my feet and when he turned to move, a rope gripped at his neck. He grasped at it as the rope tightened and I sliced his body clean in two.

Watching as the body fell, I saw a terrified Nia staring back at me in horror and my heart froze.

A distant cry was heard from within the forest.

“Take Gale and Hope and hide, I’ll be back soon.”

“What about sticking together?!”

“Just hide!” I dashed off in the direction of the cry as fast as I could until I reached a I saw a man, flames flicking at his fingertips cornering two scared boys against a tree.

“Now come along quietly kiddos...I don’t want to hurt you. That comes later...” 

Electricity crackled up and down the man’s arms. Remembering back to when I awoke, Yevon had called him Kevral.

“S-stay back or I’ll shoot!”

Kyle had wedged himself in between Lucas and their assailant, arrow notched and ready to fire at a moment’s notice. Lucas had noticed me appear in the forest behind me. I raised a finger to my lips at him. Unfortunately, Kevral had already followed his gaze.

“Hmmm? It appears we have an unwanted guest!”

At that, he launched a fire spell in my direction, setting a section of the forest ablaze.

“Well, quite nimble aren’t we. Not bad, not bad at all…”

I pressed myself up against a nearby tree as he prowled around like a wolf on the prowl.

“I’m guessing that your presence means that Paelith and Yevon have fallen? Such a shame, I liked working with them.”

I moved when his back was turned, but he must have heard where I was going.

“Think you can hide? No matter, I’ll soon flush you out. And then it will just be a matter of win or lose and either way I look forward to the outcome.”

Several heart-stopping moments later, Kevral fired a thunder spell at me and I used that to begin my attack. He was faster and dodged my first flurry of attacks and retaliated, sending electricity surging through my veins.

He cackled. “You’ll have to do much better than that~!”

And so I did. Off to the side, I looked to Kyle and Lucas, giving them a small nod before charging him again. As I did so, Kyle launched an arrow and, even though Kevral dodged my attacks, it embedded itself deep into his chest. He snarled and I attacked again, more relentless, hitting true several times. He attacked with a fire spell I easily dodged, leaving him open for an attack. 

I carved a deep gash into him, slicing his arm off and sending him to the floor.

I immediately turned to check on Kyle and Lucas. A few cuts and bruises here and there, but nothing too major.

“Where’s Nia? And Gale and Hope?”

“They’re back at camp, the bad guys are gone now. It’s sa-”

“Isaac!”

I turned around and instinctively thrusted my sword, impaling Kevral on the tip.

He cackled again. “Looks like you win this round...”

His body went limp on the end of my sword.

There in forest, rain began to fall. Footsteps following in the dark trundled up from ahead as Nia stepped in front of us with Gale and Hope.

Caked in blood, I broke down sobbing, dropping my sword into the mud and falling to my knees.

Five sets of arms wrapped around me. I was relying on children for support.

I had never felt worse.

\----------

“Isaac?”

“Lucas? What are you doing up this late?”

“Who were they? The people from before?”

“Bad people, Lucas. Very bad. They want to hurt everyone all across Fodlan.”

“So they deserved it then?”

...

\----------

It wasn’t until years later that I found out they had been kidnapping children for sick experiments. They chose Hrym as the centre due to the chaos of banditry and riots, focusing in on the most vulnerable children in hopes of avoiding the Emperor’s gaze.

In the months following, I made my way through Aegir territory and eventually to Bergliez. We joined with a travelling merchant’s caravan and life became easier as we travelled the Empire. Still dangerous. Still terrifying. But easier. And, eventually, it led us back here. To Garreg Mach, five years later.

I was overjoyed to see everyone again. My search for Edgar had ended in failure, but now with the professor and Claude together with us all, I felt satisfied, content that the children would at least be protected around so many people I could trust.

I wasn’t on my own anymore. And so my thoughts turned to Edgar. Lost. Forgotten. Dead, most likely. Did I make the right choices? Does it even matter anymore? I so desperately wanted to find him somewhere out there, know where he had disappeared to.

He had looked after me the same way I had those kids. He had screwed up. Just like I did. But it was always us; a team just the two of us, and now he had vanished, it felt like a part of me had been stripped away.

I barely noticed amidst the tears that someone had appeared behind me. Minty green hair shining in the moonlight, a gentle warm smile on their face. I couldn’t help myself, launching into their arms, trying to find some comfort in the cold night’s air.

...

“Professor, I think I’m beginning to understand how you must have felt all that time ago. With us. That fierce desire to protect. By any means necessary.”

...

“I’d do anything for those kids. Anything to keep them safe, Professor.

No matter what.”

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a real long time since I published anything here and it's all pretty much OC stuff so it's probably not gonna get much attention. Regardless, if you've read this far, thank you and I hope you enjoyed it, even though enjoyed might not be the right word for this fic. I think this is most likely the longest thing I've ever written, so hopefully it should inspire me to write more. It's even longer that most essays I write for college/uni.
> 
> Additional Character Notes: Isaac Oswald, the protagonist of this fic, is a member of the Golden Deer house and is primarily a sword wielder. His brother, Edgar Oswald, is a knight for House Daphnel and went shortly missing after the fall of Garreg Mach. They're both originally street urchins until Judith offered to take Edgar on as a knight. Isaac went to live with Lord Astor, a member of the Alliance gentry with an estate in Derdriu who is loyal to Houses Riegan and Daphnel.
> 
> The kids were mostly just spur of the moment characters I came up with on the fly, as were the members of Those Who Slither in the Dark, but I think they came out pretty well for no planning.


End file.
